This is very cool: An MIT scientist, described as "the MacGyver of medical inventions," reconfigures toys and other everyday items like bike pumps into medical gadgets that can be used in low-resource areas of the world. CNET blogger Boonsri Dickinson reports:
"Most of the devices that get donated to developing countries fail because they were not designed to be used in these environments," [Jose] Gomez-Marquez said during a visit to CNET this week to show some of his creations. "We need to make the Land Rover version of medical devices for these countries. Right now we are sending the Ferrari versions and they fail."
Gomez-Marquez is program director for MIT's Innovations in International Health initiative, which aims to teach medical professionals in the developing world how to hack ordinary objects to make their own medical devices. With a degree in mechanical engineering and a love of design, Gomez-Marquez wants to level the playing field in health care.
"One of the ways to empower better designs is by empowering users who are everyday users of the devices," he said. "So we made these kits to do that."
Gomez-Marquez shows examples of his work in an accompanying video.
